The Elementary Particles

The Elementary Particles

2006 ""
The Elementary Particles
The Elementary Particles

The Elementary Particles

6.6 | 1h45m | en | Drama

Based on Michel Houellebecq's controversial novel, Atomised (aka The Elementary Particles) focuses on Michael and Bruno, two very different half-brothers and their disturbed sexuality. After a chaotic childhood with a hippie mother only caring for her affairs, Michael, a molecular biologist, is more interested in genes than women, while Bruno is obsessed with his sexual desires, but mostly finds his satisfaction with prostitutes. But Bruno's life changes when he gets to know the experienced Christiane. In the meantime, Michael meets Annabelle, the love of his youth, again.

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6.6 | 1h45m | en | Drama , Romance | More Info
Released: February. 11,2006 | Released Producted By: Constantin Film , Moovie Country: Budget: 0 Revenue: 0 Official Website: http://www.elementarteilchen.film.de/
Synopsis

Based on Michel Houellebecq's controversial novel, Atomised (aka The Elementary Particles) focuses on Michael and Bruno, two very different half-brothers and their disturbed sexuality. After a chaotic childhood with a hippie mother only caring for her affairs, Michael, a molecular biologist, is more interested in genes than women, while Bruno is obsessed with his sexual desires, but mostly finds his satisfaction with prostitutes. But Bruno's life changes when he gets to know the experienced Christiane. In the meantime, Michael meets Annabelle, the love of his youth, again.

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Cast

Christian Ulmen , Moritz Bleibtreu , Martina Gedeck

Director

Ingrid Henn

Producted By

Constantin Film , Moovie

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Reviews

vonseux I think this movie have accomplished something very rare. It's an adaptation that respects the spirit of the novel but doesn't follow it blindly. That's very welcome because Houellebecque is notorious for his polemical discussions, something that would be very hard to fit on a movie or entertainment television. The Movie, then, avoids any major discussion of society, individualism, decadence, and the scientific fiction that closes the novel. It keeps things simple and offers viewers only the "story" of the two brothers, keeping the more hardcore stuff on the books. Photography is very colorful, casting is excellent. The new ending is beautiful. At the bottom, maybe the best introduction to Houellebecque's world.
itamarscomix The Elementary Particles is a genuinely beautiful movie, well-shot and with several very powerful scenes; it also has two very strong lead performances. The first half is captivating and intriguing; unfortunately, that's where everything that's good about the film is. By the time the film was half-finished I was exhausted and felt like it was trying very hard to shock me. The real shame is that while the film feels like shock cinema, it actually deals with some very important and delicate issues - but it relies far too heavily on clichés and melodrama to allow for those to be taken seriously or create any real thought or debate. It's a self indulgent art piece that tries so hard to be artistic and tragic that it loses sight of what it actually wanted to say.
Balazs Csaszar Elementary particles starts out as a quest for existence and what this word really means. Two brothers (half-brothers to be precise) realize their lives are not what kids dream about however much they seem to fit in the „mechanism". One is having doubts about his devotion to chase his scientific pioneering while the other does not seem to find comfort in teaching literature any more while being constantly turned down by publishers and neglected by his wife. They both have to reach back to their roots to be able to find out where to go from here, though Bruno (Moritz Bleibtrau) does so amidst rather compulsive circumstances, in a clinic he ends up in. They have not been given much of a head-start in life with their capricious, self-indulgent, impulsive and utterly careless hippie mother who left them both with their troubled and lonesome adolescence. Life has taken no mercy either – that is not the nature of things. Michael (Christian Ulmen) however, finds some inspiration to carry on in the shape of an old, more-than-friend girl pal, while Bruno has to rethink and reestablish his everyday needs and desires. He is living his second childhood – a time without constraints but full of uncertainty and odd, unbalanced characters – trying to escape his feeling of being redundant. Oscar Roehler's stark and thick drama seems a little exaggerating, a bit too much, nevertheless depicts life as it is: after stripped from all the fake Christmas wrappers, often desperate, pitiful at most times and forgiving only every once in a while.
Mattias Petersson I watched this movie at a preview here in Stockholm a week or so ago. The theater was filled with people and i must admit i never thought this kind of movie would have that kind of attraction on people.I can start by saying that i really liked this movie. I'm not sure i was entertained by it, and many times it was not a pleasant experience, but still the overwhelming feeling is that i really liked it. This is not a movie for everyone though. A lot of people will probably have a hard time with the strange mix between comedy and tragedy, others will be put off simply because of the themes and the presentation. There is a lot of nudity here, a lot of explicit language and scenes that are disturbing in more ways than one. A lot of people will probably find it gratuitous, although i feel it's more a part of an uncompromising attitude towards the movie and the story.The story revolves around two brothers, Bruno and Michael. Bruno is the brother that really stuck with me. Moritz Bleibtreu is excellent and the character really displays how the complexity of a human being can cause you to both hate and pity him. The other actors are also very good, which is probably necessary considering the subject of the movie.I have to stress one last time that this is not a movie for everyone. And by that i don't mean that it's demanding in the sense that you have to be a film-student to appreciate it. Rather i mean that the themes and the presentation are probably too much for many people. This movie is rough around the edges, very blunt and raw. These are the characteristics i appreciate it for, but i realize other people won't feel the same way. My guess is that either you really like it or you hate it. But you'll never know until you watch it, and therefore i feel it's still a strong recommendation. 7/10.